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uJ r 1 Monday, November 2, 1998 Volume 61 Number 25 12m r t " II Night ! 1 Love, lust i,rS-- "V and death ZJ-;! T u jf' I from j H See a&e page 8 Open Hour not so open By Kari Lynn Harland news editor-The Signpost Although there were approximately 720 people who attended Thursday's Convocation with the Cancer Man, Open Hour hasn't seemed as popular this year due to many factors concerning conversion to semesters. One of the most obvious problems is so many classes were scheduled during the Open Hour time slot. According to Weber State University Institutional Research, there are 107 classes and 28 labs scheduled during then, leaving a total of 3,619 students in class and 472 students in labs unable to attend.Felicia Ganther, coordinator for student government, has been studying the lack of attendance during Open Hour. "There are many factors, but I'm sure that a considerable amount of students who would attend Open Hour probably are in class," Ganther said. However, the question of why so many students are in class isn't so easy to answer. "You can only schedule so many classes at one time, because you only have so many classrooms," Ganther said. "I think this first year of semesters was probably a scheduling nightmare." This is only part of the problem, according to the anthropology department, which only has 18 classes scheduled this semester two of which are only offered during Open Hour. Rosemary Conover is chair of the anthropology department and schedules the classes for each semester. Conover said she scheduled the classes for when she thought the most students would be likely to attend. "We were told there was no Open Hour this year," she said. "Student demand is the keyword. We have to schedule when they can come." Conover said she has been a supporter of Open Hour ever since it started and was chair of faculty senate when it was proposed. "I lost a lot of friends over it," she said. "I think Open Hour is the greatest thing that has happened for students on this campus and not protecting it has killed it. It needs to be legislated. Someone needs to demand that classes not be held during that time and enforce it." She added that if Open Hour were legislated as an official event on campus, she would support it, but until it does, she will continue to schedule classes on Thursdays at 10 a.m. The English department also has classes scheduled during Open Hour. There are 12 during that time, though they are all classes that are offered at other times. Candadai Seshachari is chair of the department who schedules the classes and is also the current chair of faculty senate. "As chair of the department, I had to schedule classes during Open Hour simply because, otherwise, I would have had to give up scheduling classes on Tuesdays as well," he said. "Since we offer fewer classes on See Open page 3 Is this thing safe? i ?, y n . " - v ' i : . K - ' ;l t'-' v - - ' I . . - , - .' ' - . j , - . . . i - - ' '. ' ' -. , i f ' . r J V I . . "'-V- v, - f - " v " " - -'. v"' T. Junior ROTC members made a one-rope bridge behind Promontory Tower going between two poles which they got to cross afterward. Fasfi TRAC is off f ra n By Brian Cloward senior news reporter-The Signpost The high hopes of Weber State University's administration for the success of Fast TRAC have been put on hold, at least for another semester.The program didn't get off to a great start, said Kathleen Lukken, associate provost. "A majority of the classes have been canceled due to a low turnout," Lukken said. "But we will be trying Fast TRAC again in the spring with hopes to see more students register for these classes." With only two campus-taught classes still being offered, along with some independent study courses, things can only get better, she said. Lukken said there may have been several factors as to why the program failed this semester. The main reason being semester conversion."We the administration feel that the main reason for Fast TRAC's failure this semester is due to too much change for students with semester conversion," Lukken said. "The students didn't plan on adding additional classes to their schedules." This second point by Lukken brings up an interesting point of view that many professors and students have voiced their opinion on. A lack of early advertising. Two adjunct faculty members who are still teaching Fast TRAC classes, Kyra Hudson, English, and Belle Schwarzenbach, nutrition, both said their students wish they would have known about the Fast TRAC classes sooner so they could have planned for them. "I think that a lot of students didn't know about this program until it was too late," Hudson said. "There needs to be a way to let students know about this right at registration time." According to Schwarzenbach, there may be some problems with Fast TRAC courses if students don't plan ahead. "Students with over 12 credit hours may find themselves overwhelmed by the end of the semester if they have added to their present schedules," Schwarzenbach said. "This program is basically the same as semester classes, but in half the time. It will be very difficult for some students if they have too many hours." Although it may seem that Fast TRAC's future is bleak at this point, several other local universities, including Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, are participating in similar programs. ; The U of U is just settling into semesters, like WSU. According to Katrina Green, coordinator of transfer student services at the U of U, their program is just getting off the ground too. "The U of U has started a program called second session, which provides students with semester credit hours in just 7-8 weeks," Green said. "Most of the classes offered are just general education courses for beginning students." Green did not have up-to-date information on the success of their program, but said she hadn't heard of any classes being canceled. However, according to Ralene Hadley, director of academic advising for BYU, things have gone very well for their accelerated program in years past, but as of late, not as well. "We have had this program at BYU for over 20 years," Hadley said. "The program first began to accommodate returned missionaries who had returned from their missions during the middle of a semester. This gave them the opportunity to still get some credit hours in before the semester ended." Hadley said several years ago their accelerated program had been very prominent and successful, but during the past few years several classes had been canceled. She did not have exact reasons for the cancellations, but did state it seemed that a lot of faculty may have not liked the program. "The classes that are offered to-tiay are more for specialized programs such as secondary education. It also has helped some students who either couldn't get into a class at the first of a semester or for those who have dropped a class and still need to get a certain amount of hours to keep their financial aid," . Hadley said. The classes offered at BYU on the accelerated schedule are mainly four-hour classes that are taught three days a week. Hadley said the classes are offered both at the first of a semester and in the middle, called first block or second block, depending on which time of the semester they begin. Looking at other universities' experiences with programs such as Fast TRAC, it is iore than likely that WSU's program won't be a huge success. However, history shows that non-traditional students are the ones who benefit from such a program and may be the staple for future Fast TRAC classes. inside post news see page 2&3 editorial , see page A cl&e see page 8 SpOftS see page 12 classifieds . . . .see page 16

Public Domain. Courtesy of University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University.

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uJ r 1 Monday, November 2, 1998 Volume 61 Number 25 12m r t " II Night ! 1 Love, lust i,rS-- "V and death ZJ-;! T u jf' I from j H See a&e page 8 Open Hour not so open By Kari Lynn Harland news editor-The Signpost Although there were approximately 720 people who attended Thursday's Convocation with the Cancer Man, Open Hour hasn't seemed as popular this year due to many factors concerning conversion to semesters. One of the most obvious problems is so many classes were scheduled during the Open Hour time slot. According to Weber State University Institutional Research, there are 107 classes and 28 labs scheduled during then, leaving a total of 3,619 students in class and 472 students in labs unable to attend.Felicia Ganther, coordinator for student government, has been studying the lack of attendance during Open Hour. "There are many factors, but I'm sure that a considerable amount of students who would attend Open Hour probably are in class," Ganther said. However, the question of why so many students are in class isn't so easy to answer. "You can only schedule so many classes at one time, because you only have so many classrooms," Ganther said. "I think this first year of semesters was probably a scheduling nightmare." This is only part of the problem, according to the anthropology department, which only has 18 classes scheduled this semester two of which are only offered during Open Hour. Rosemary Conover is chair of the anthropology department and schedules the classes for each semester. Conover said she scheduled the classes for when she thought the most students would be likely to attend. "We were told there was no Open Hour this year," she said. "Student demand is the keyword. We have to schedule when they can come." Conover said she has been a supporter of Open Hour ever since it started and was chair of faculty senate when it was proposed. "I lost a lot of friends over it," she said. "I think Open Hour is the greatest thing that has happened for students on this campus and not protecting it has killed it. It needs to be legislated. Someone needs to demand that classes not be held during that time and enforce it." She added that if Open Hour were legislated as an official event on campus, she would support it, but until it does, she will continue to schedule classes on Thursdays at 10 a.m. The English department also has classes scheduled during Open Hour. There are 12 during that time, though they are all classes that are offered at other times. Candadai Seshachari is chair of the department who schedules the classes and is also the current chair of faculty senate. "As chair of the department, I had to schedule classes during Open Hour simply because, otherwise, I would have had to give up scheduling classes on Tuesdays as well," he said. "Since we offer fewer classes on See Open page 3 Is this thing safe? i ?, y n . " - v ' i : . K - ' ;l t'-' v - - ' I . . - , - .' ' - . j , - . . . i - - ' '. ' ' -. , i f ' . r J V I . . "'-V- v, - f - " v " " - -'. v"' T. Junior ROTC members made a one-rope bridge behind Promontory Tower going between two poles which they got to cross afterward. Fasfi TRAC is off f ra n By Brian Cloward senior news reporter-The Signpost The high hopes of Weber State University's administration for the success of Fast TRAC have been put on hold, at least for another semester.The program didn't get off to a great start, said Kathleen Lukken, associate provost. "A majority of the classes have been canceled due to a low turnout," Lukken said. "But we will be trying Fast TRAC again in the spring with hopes to see more students register for these classes." With only two campus-taught classes still being offered, along with some independent study courses, things can only get better, she said. Lukken said there may have been several factors as to why the program failed this semester. The main reason being semester conversion."We the administration feel that the main reason for Fast TRAC's failure this semester is due to too much change for students with semester conversion," Lukken said. "The students didn't plan on adding additional classes to their schedules." This second point by Lukken brings up an interesting point of view that many professors and students have voiced their opinion on. A lack of early advertising. Two adjunct faculty members who are still teaching Fast TRAC classes, Kyra Hudson, English, and Belle Schwarzenbach, nutrition, both said their students wish they would have known about the Fast TRAC classes sooner so they could have planned for them. "I think that a lot of students didn't know about this program until it was too late," Hudson said. "There needs to be a way to let students know about this right at registration time." According to Schwarzenbach, there may be some problems with Fast TRAC courses if students don't plan ahead. "Students with over 12 credit hours may find themselves overwhelmed by the end of the semester if they have added to their present schedules," Schwarzenbach said. "This program is basically the same as semester classes, but in half the time. It will be very difficult for some students if they have too many hours." Although it may seem that Fast TRAC's future is bleak at this point, several other local universities, including Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, are participating in similar programs. ; The U of U is just settling into semesters, like WSU. According to Katrina Green, coordinator of transfer student services at the U of U, their program is just getting off the ground too. "The U of U has started a program called second session, which provides students with semester credit hours in just 7-8 weeks," Green said. "Most of the classes offered are just general education courses for beginning students." Green did not have up-to-date information on the success of their program, but said she hadn't heard of any classes being canceled. However, according to Ralene Hadley, director of academic advising for BYU, things have gone very well for their accelerated program in years past, but as of late, not as well. "We have had this program at BYU for over 20 years," Hadley said. "The program first began to accommodate returned missionaries who had returned from their missions during the middle of a semester. This gave them the opportunity to still get some credit hours in before the semester ended." Hadley said several years ago their accelerated program had been very prominent and successful, but during the past few years several classes had been canceled. She did not have exact reasons for the cancellations, but did state it seemed that a lot of faculty may have not liked the program. "The classes that are offered to-tiay are more for specialized programs such as secondary education. It also has helped some students who either couldn't get into a class at the first of a semester or for those who have dropped a class and still need to get a certain amount of hours to keep their financial aid," . Hadley said. The classes offered at BYU on the accelerated schedule are mainly four-hour classes that are taught three days a week. Hadley said the classes are offered both at the first of a semester and in the middle, called first block or second block, depending on which time of the semester they begin. Looking at other universities' experiences with programs such as Fast TRAC, it is iore than likely that WSU's program won't be a huge success. However, history shows that non-traditional students are the ones who benefit from such a program and may be the staple for future Fast TRAC classes. inside post news see page 2&3 editorial , see page A cl&e see page 8 SpOftS see page 12 classifieds . . . .see page 16